April Fool Eggs

Since Saturday, March 25th, we've been getting eggs. Not reliably, mind you, but eggs. We're pretty sure that right now, we've got two laying hens, both Barred Rocks.

This Saturday, though, things got a little weird.

We got our usual two eggs, and I took them upstairs and put them into the bowl. Then, when I was down in the chicken run later in the afternoon, I noticed yellow liquid on the ground. My initial thought was that one of the chickens has some sort of really severe intestinal distress. Healthy chicken poop is firm and dark. Unhealthy chicken poop is loose and much lighter. This was yellow liquid - not a good sign at all. The only other possibility, though, was even worse - we've got an egg eater.

I called the Pirate downstairs and got his opinion. He thought it was an egg, and thought the same thing I did - that we've got an egg eater. Peaches came downstairs to see what the fuss was about, and she pointed out a whole, perfect egg under the waterer. Perfect, that is, except for one thing. It had no shell. It was a perfect little blob of goo with an unbroken yolk, just laying there in a depression on the ground. I realized that the other egg didn't have any shell near it either. I can't conceive of any animal breaking an egg and eating every single scrap of the shell and leaving the yolk behind, so we've formulated a new theory - one of our hens laid two eggs without shells.

I looked up in our chicken books what could be causing it. There are a few ailments that in rare cases cause hens to lay without shells, but the chickens show no other signs of illness. I'm even more worried because Sunday, we got only one egg. That's not terribly unusual, but I'm concerned about Miss No-Shell.

We're keeping an eye out.